Epitaphs And Obituaries.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking lately about epitaphs (don’t even ask). I wondered, if I could choose only three words to have in my obituary after I’m gone, what three words would they be? First I thought of words like writer, dreamer… but while those descriptors were fine, they weren’t what I wanted to be remembered for. I want to be remembered for more than just what I am, but for the things I love. I love smiles, kindness, generosity. I want to be remembered as someone who brought joy to everyone she met, who was generous with everything she had, whether it was time or money or love, and someone who honored God with every breath she breathed. It is so tempting to be sucked into thinking that life is about ‘earthly’ things, the day-to-day things. But when there’s nothing remaining but the legacy I’ve left behind, I want it to be more than how I dressed or did my hair or spoke. I hope it’s about the way I treated people. Oh boy. I’ve got some work to do. 🙂 What do you want to leave behind, if it’s not too morbid to ask?

Rather early for hard questions, don’cha think? But I’ll give it a go – I’d like to be remembered as one who found joy in everyday things, the birds, the sounds of wind in the aspen, the slant of the early morning, late evening light. I’d like to be remembered as an honorable friend, one who would not betray by spreading private bits around. I’d like to be remembered as a mother my children liked. As a wife who stuck by her man till the end. As a person people were happy to know. And in the meantime, I would hope to live in a manner that deserves those kinds of memories.

I want to be remembered as a good person. “Good” seems like such a vague term, but I think it has a lot of strong connotations! Someone who is both kind toward other people and very connected to God.

Except I don’t really think of it as how I want to be *remembered* when I leave this world, more like what I want to *be* when I leave this world. Because . . . how one is remembered doesn’t matter that much. I think the main point is to be the best you because that’s how you should be, not because that’s how you want everyone to think of you.